Collectors Perspective: Michael Schwarz

Michael Schwarz on collecting art during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the start of each year my partner and I make the same resolution: ‘No More Art’. This is a common resolve of long-term art collectors who have run out of space on walls, in cupboards and under beds. And, within a month, it is another failed endeavour. Collecting art is as insidious as COVID-19 - it gets into one’s system and takes over.

With the emergence of coronavirus, we thought we might have a better chance of sticking with our ‘no more art’ intention. We could not go to galleries, attend art fairs, or even catch up with other collectors – the potential transmitters of this ‘disease’. We felt quite safe and even smug as we don’t like acquiring art without seeing it ‘in the flesh’ or at least knowing the artist and their practice. However, a disease is a disease is a disease. And within the past month, the art that is part of our ‘COVID Collection’ has arrived.

It began with a whimsical ceramic work by Glenn Barkley from his recent show with Sullivan+Strumpf. Poseidon with shell stopper and fancy handles, 2020 appeared on our radar in the early days of coronavirus lockdown. It is bright and quirky and figurative (there are a lot of faces and ceramics in our collection) and referenced the Greek god of the sea, Poseidon, who helped protect people during storms. A storm was raging - it was a no-brainer.

Glenn Barkley, Poseidon with the shell stopper and fancy handles, 2020

Then, a month later, an email appeared from Galerie Pompom with the intriguing title Prototype for a future. Tristan Chant’s jacquard woven tapestries are collaged images that are inspired by science fiction, global catastrophe and a dystopian future. They ‘spoke’ to us about the world we were inhabiting. As we cocooned from COVID and binged on Netflix, an alien virus was attacking individuals and carrying them off. Not surprisingly, While you were watching became part of our collection.

Tristan Chant, While you were watching, 2020, courtesy Galerie Pompom

Collectors have different ‘journeys’. Mine has evolved into becoming a supporter of artists and arts organizations at a ‘grass roots’ level. One challenging role during lockdown was as a member of a local council arts funding committee which awarded special COVID grants to artists. While assessing submissions, I discovered the art practice of The Huxleys.

TOP: The Huxleys, Flair Dinkum, 2018

Garrett and Will Huxley have a background in filmmaking, photography, costume design and performance art. Through their wild, extravagant and subversive presentations, they challenge the way we consider gender, sexuality and even location. Both Garrett and Will are ‘small town boys’ – Will from Perth and Garrett from the Gold Coast. With coronavirus, our world has become smaller and as we negotiate it, I suspect we feel as alien as they did growing up and struggling with difference. Their Postcards from the Edge series from 2017-18 is a ‘glam’ reminder of diversity, alienation and … places we can no longer easily visit.

The Huxleys, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, 2017

Finally, one of my favourite art connections is being involved with Arts Project Australia. This longstanding and extraordinary organisation supports the artistic practice of artists with Intellectual Disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorders and Acquired Brain Injury through promoting their work and advocating for their inclusion in contemporary art practice.

Recently, Arts Project Australia held a fundraising auction to support their artists during this challenging time. It was an extremely successful event with most of the works being sold. Feeling somewhat chastened by the above acquisitions, I was relieved to buy only one work. The collaborative painting by Sullivan+Strumpf artist, Richard Lewer, and Arts Project artist, Eden Menta, sums up the experience of the dedicated and obsessed art collector. It is aptly titled: Don’t Tease The Special Needs.

As artists, their supporters, and the creative world in general suffer from the economic realities of COVID-19, it is more important than ever that collectors keep collecting. ‘No More Art’ is now on hold for the foreseeable future!

Richard Lewer and Eden Menta, Don’t Tease The Special Needs, 2016